


for good times and bad times, i'll be on your side forever more

by daisylincs



Series: Lily's Season 7 Countdown [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AoS Season 7 Countdown, Bus Kids - Freeform, Day 1, Feel-Good Found Family Fluff, Fitzskimmons Friendship, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Lily's Season 7 Countdown, feel-good fic, shield high
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:02:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24306361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisylincs/pseuds/daisylincs
Summary: “Why should Shield High be any different?”Mr Coulson smiled. “Because here at Shield, we look out for each other. We understand each other. And most importantly, we care about each other.”Daisy couldn’t hold back a snort. “Yeah, right.”Mr Coulson’s smile didn’t waver, though. “Why don’t you give us a chance?” he asked. “I think you’ll be surprised by what you find here.”A fluffy, feel-good Found Family fic, written for Day 1 of the AoS Season 7 Countdown challenge on Tumblr.
Relationships: Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons & Skye | Daisy Johnson
Series: Lily's Season 7 Countdown [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1755688
Comments: 15
Kudos: 30
Collections: AOS Season 7 Countdown





	for good times and bad times, i'll be on your side forever more

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!! I’m so excited to be posting this fic. While it’s definitely not the first fanfiction I’ve ever written, it’s the first one I’ve ever been brave enough to post. Lockdown is terrible, but it finally got me to stop dancing around my shyness and post something, so there’s a positive I never expected.
> 
> This fic was written for the Agents of SHIELD Season 7 Countdown on Tumblr, and fills the prompts Found Family, High School AU and Bus Kids (platonic relationship.) I don’t usually take part in challenges like this, but I’m SO excited for season 7, you know? Also, when I saw that list of prompts, I got an idea immediately, which almost never happens. Seriously, I sat down and this fic just flowed out in one sitting.
> 
> To be fair, though, that means it’s probably riddled with typos and whatnot. I’ve never been patient enough to beta-read, and anyway I’m already a day late with the challenge, so I just posted this thing as is. If you spot any errors, please point them out to me - and I’d love to hear what you all think about this fic. I’m crossing my fingers here, because like I said it’s the first thing I’ve ever actually posted, so you would be making my day if you left a comment.
> 
> Before I forget - the title is from That's What Friends Are For by Dionne Warwick. And now with no further ado, I give you this piece of fluffy, feel-good found family nonsense. I hope you all like it, and thanks for stopping by!

“Alright, Miss Johnson,” the clipboard girl said, looking up and giving Daisy a nice smile. “You’re up.”

Daisy didn’t bother to return the smile as she stood up, brushing off her clothes. She knew exactly how this was going to go, so what was the point in being all chirpy about it?

Clipboard Girl didn’t seem to get the memo, though. “I’m sure you’re going to love it here at Shield,” she said brightly, smiling cheerfully at Daisy as she led her up the stairs to the headmaster’s office.

“Yeah, whatever,” Daisy said, pushing past her and into the headmaster’s office, ignoring the flash of hurt on Clipboard Girl’s face.

The office looked exactly like every other headmaster’s office Daisy had been in throughout her tumultuous school career - all neutral colours and award certificates on the wall, with a big wooden desk and the school poster hung up in the corner.

The headmaster himself - Mr Coulson, his name-plaque said - looked up with a pleasant smile when Daisy walked in. Again, he looked exactly the way she had been expecting - middle-aged, white, in a smart suit with a pair of glasses perched on his nose.

What caught her by surprise, though, was the number of smile lines around his eyes and mouth. This was clearly a man who spent more time laughing and smiling than he did scolding his students.

Still, smiler or no, he was a headmaster. And Daisy had learned that no headmaster was really your friend, no matter what they told you.

“Hello, Miss Johnson,” Mr Coulson said the standard line of greeting in the little headmaster script she had come to know so well over the years that she could probably write it down word for word. “Daisy. Can I call you Daisy?”

She shrugged one shoulder. What was it to her? It wasn’t like she was going to stay here any longer than all the other schools she had been unceremoniously kicked out of.

“So, Daisy,” Mr Coulson said, classic Headmaster Smile in place. “I read here that you’ve been to eleven different schools in eleven years.”

Why did they even bother to say that? It wasn’t like she didn’t _know._

She gave another small shrug and prepared for the “well-don’t-worry-I’m-sure-you’ll-fit-right-in-here” bit of the speech that was doubtless coming next.

But Mr Coulson veered from the standard script. “I think I know why that is,” he said, lowering the stack of papers to smile at her.

Daisy blinked. That was _not_ what she had been expecting.

“I think it’s because you never really fit in at those other schools,” Mr Coulson said, his blue eyes uncomfortably shrewd as they rested on her. “It’s because no-one understood you. You _wanted_ to fit in more than anything, which made you stand out.”

Daisy shifted uncomfortably, giving him a quick smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Why should Shield High be any different?” she asked, trying not to let him see how well he had read her.

Mr Coulson smiled. “Because here at Shield, we look out for each other. We understand each other. And most importantly, we care about each other.”

Daisy couldn’t hold back a snort. “Yeah, right.”

Mr Coulson’s smile didn’t waver, though. “Why don’t you give us a chance?” he asked. “I think you’ll be surprised by what you find here.”

Daisy wanted to roll her eyes, but she plastered on a false smile for Mr Coulson’s benefit. “Right you are, sir,” she said with blinding sarcasm.

“Oh, I am,” he said easily, totally unfazed by her sarcasm. Leaning forwards, he pressed a little bell on his desk, speaking into the intercom beside it. “Fitzsimmons? Could you come back up here? Daisy’s ready for her orientation.”

The office door opened, and Clipboard Girl walked back in, followed by a curly-haired guy in a blue sweater.

“Fitzsimmons?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Fitz,” Clipboard Girl said, pointing at the curly-haired guy.

“Simmons,” Curly-Haired Guy said at the same time, nodding at Clipboard Girl.

Daisy couldn’t stop her grin at the sight. She had never met two people who were more in sync, that was for sure.

“Ah, yes, the infamous Shield High double act,” Mr Coulson said with a smile, standing up to greet the two.

Fitz and Simmons rolled their eyes at exactly the time, but they were smiling as they shook hands with their headmaster.

Daisy couldn’t help but marvel at the sight. They really seemed to like their headmaster.

And not only that… they seemed to be _friends._

Now, that went against everything she had ever learned in her eleven years of bouncing from school to school. But here she was, watching as a headmaster and his two students exchanged smiles and Star Wars references.

She shook her head slowly. Maybe… maybe Shield High really was different.

She shut that thought down as quickly as it had popped up. _Ridiculous._ Of course Shield wasn’t going to be any different - if eleven years had taught her anything, it was that.

But even so… as Fitzsimmons were showing her around the school, talking enthusiastically over each other with smiles so wide it was as though she had never been rude to them, she couldn’t help but wonder if this really was something special.

// 

As the days passed, Daisy tried her hardest to remain cool and indifferent, but it became increasingly harder as each day rolled by and Fitzsimmons stayed as ridiculously cheerful and nice as the day she had met them. Despite the fact that they could fully have dumped her the minute they finished her orientation, they seemed to have made up their minds to stick with her.

She kept waiting for something to go horrifically wrong - for Shield High to reveal its dark side - but nothing happened.

It was - dare she say it - nice.

Every morning, Fitz and Jemma greeted her at the gates with bright smiles and a prosciutto sandwich - “trust me, Daisy, once you’ve tasted this sandwich nothing will ever be the same again.” Then they walked to class together, Fitz and Jemma babbling along about everything from Thor to the Third Law of Thermodynamics.

They could be a little annoying sometimes, especially in the lab, but despite herself Daisy was starting to look forward to their infectious excitement at the start of every day, and the way they could make the most mundane of conversations seem interesting and funny just by the way they talked over each other.

She didn’t realise what was happening until one day in the lab she caught herself rolling her eyes with fond exasperation as they figured out the problem before the teacher had even finished explaining it.

They pulled a face at her at exactly the same time, and she found a soft, affectionate smile spreading over her face as she watched them.

Soft. Affectionate.

Oh, this was _not_ good.

As soon as she realised what was happening, she tried to cut herself off from it. 

But Fitz and Jemma weren’t having any of it.

After lunch, they cornered her in the gym, just as she was coming out of the bathroom.

“You’ve been avoiding us,” Fitz said bluntly.

Daisy tried to squeeze past him with a “no, of course I haven’t!” but he stood his ground.

“You’ve been avoiding us,” he repeated.

“And we want to know why,” Jemma finished.

Daisy glanced at the door, and then at the two of them, blocking her way with their arms folded. She was well and truly trapped.

“Look, guys, it’s nothing personal -” she started, but Jemma cut her off, eyes flashing in a way she had never seen in the sweet young Brit before.

“Nothing personal? Daisy, I thought we were friends!”

“Friends don’t go out of their way to avoid friends,” Fitz chipped in, his blue eyes accusing.

Daisy’s heart twinged at the range of emotions visible on their faces - confusion, worry, and most prominently, hurt.

And damn it all, this was exactly what she had been trying to avoid.

“Guys, I’m really sorry,” she said, shoving past them despite their yelps of protest. “You’re probably the two nicest people I have ever met, and -”

She trailed away into silence when she realised she was blinking back tears.

No, no, no, no, _no._

How had this all gone so wrong so fast?

Before she had fully processed what was happening, Fitz and Jemma had grabbed one arm each, and were gently but firmly pulling her over to one of the little benches by the lockers.

“Something’s obviously not right,” Jemma said, nudging her shoulder to get her to sit down.

“So tell us about it,” Fitz prompted, his blue eyes encouraging.

Jemma’s eyes were warm. “We’re your friends.”

“We’re here for you,” Fitz finished, reaching for her hand and squeezing.

Daisy screwed her eyes shut, feeling the hot press of tears against her eyelids. How could they be so _nice?_

Jemma’s hand rubbed soothingly along her shoulders. “Hey,” she said gently. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” she said, opening her eyes and swiping angrily at her tears.

Fitz’s gaze was concerned. “What’s not okay?”

“This!” she exclaimed, jumping to her feet and gesturing between them. Fitz and Jemma took a synchronised step back, startled.

“Every single good thing that comes into my life, I lose,” Daisy said bitterly. “And I just… I can’t lose you too.”

There it was. She covered her face with her hands and gave in to the bout of dry, wracking sobs she had been holding back since she realised she would have to let go of their offers of friendship.

Then she felt Fitz’s hand on her shoulder. “You’re not going to lose us,” he said, firm.

“Because we’re _friends,”_ Jemma said, meeting Daisy’s gaze squarely. “And friends stick with friends, no matter what.”

“But how do you know I won’t… mess this up?” she asked quietly. “I don’t have any experience with this, and the last thing I want to do is hurt either of you.”

Fitz and Jemma exchanged glances. 

“The steps you take don’t have to be big, they just have to take you in the right direction,” Jemma said, reaching for her hand with an encouraging smile.

“And right now, that direction is trust,” Fitz said. “Do you trust us?”

She was surprised to find that she did, with her whole heart. She might only have known them for two weeks, but that was enough for her to know that they really were two of the nicest people on the planet.

So she nodded.

“Good,” Fitz said, pleased.

“Then let us do the rest,” Jemma said.

“You trust us, and we trust you,” Fitz said simply. “That’s what makes us friends.”

Daisy could feel a tentative smile forming through her tears. “You mean that?”

“Of _course,”_ Jemma said, her smile wonderfully warm and welcoming.

Daisy smiled - disbelieving, cautious, but above all, happy. She reached out to pull Fitz and Jemma into a hug, burying her face somewhere between Fitz’s sweater and Jemma’s hair.

She couldn’t see their faces, but she could feel their smiles as they hugged her back.

This, she thought, was what it felt like to have friends.

// 

It happened in her fourth month at Shield High. Grant Ward, one of the kids from her orphanage, came tearing across the grounds waving a letter in the air.

Daisy, who had been lying on her back debating cloud shapes with Fitz and Jemma, sat bolt upright as he dropped the letter into her lap.

“Wh… what?” she stammered, staring up at the ADOPTION PENDING sigil emblazoned across the top.

Ward gave her a wildly excited smile. “Daisy, it’s happened!” he said. “You’ve got a family.”

She felt as though the world had toppled off its axis. “What?”

“The Brodys,” Ward supplied, his dark eyes shining. “Full board, kit, everything. They went through the records, and they specifically wanted you.”

Daisy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Growing up, it was every orphan’s dream to be selected like this - but she had long since given up on that dream.

But now it seemed like it might just become a reality.

Beside her, Fitz and Jemma had sat up, too, and were listening intently. When Ward finished, Jemma turned to her and said, “but that’s _great,_ Daisy!”

“We’re so happy for you,” Fitz said, reaching over to squeeze her hand.

And just like that, Daisy’s happy dream-bubble burst.

Going to this family would mean leaving Shield High. Going to this family would mean never sharing another prosciutto sandwich with Fitz, never having another ladies’ night with Jemma, never watching them be Fitzsimmons in the lab again.

Going to this family would mean leaving her _friends._

And as much as she wanted this family, she couldn’t bear the thought of losing her two best friends. 

She looked down at the adoption papers in her lap, hesitating only for a second before picking them up and holding them in front of her. For a lingering moment, she took in the name Daisy Johnson printed in neat letters on the top… then ripped the paper in half. 

Ward took an involuntary step forward, his mouth dropping open. “Daisy, what are you _doing?”_

“Saying no to the adoption offer,” she said, giving the paper another long, satisfying rip.

Jemma came to her senses first. “Don’t be silly, Daisy!” she exclaimed. “We know how long you’ve wanted this.”

“If you give this up, there won’t be another offer for the rest of your life,” Fitz said, his brows drawing together as he looked at her. “You can’t give up something like that!”

“Yes, I can,” she said, folding the ripped paper in half and creasing the fold. “I just did.”

Ward shook his head slowly, staring at her with blank incredulity. “I don’t get it,” he said. “You could have had a family!”

“I already have one,” she said simply.

Fitz and Jemma’s faces morphed into matching expressions of shock. Quite calmly, Daisy handed Ward the adoption offer back. 

“Are you… did you… did you mean that?” Fitz stammered as soon as Ward was gone, eyes wide and disbelieving.

Daisy felt a slow smile spread across her face. “Of _course_ I meant it,” she said. “You guys are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

And as she watched the smiles grow on Fitz and Jemma’s faces, she knew she had made exactly the right decision.

**_The End._ **


End file.
